


Many Moons Pass

by hanzhoe



Category: Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: Everyone also loves Reader dearly, Happy Ending, Prompt Challenge, Reader loves everyone dearly, Vignette, okay unabashedly? i'm getting everyone out of the Downside in this fic.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11728125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanzhoe/pseuds/hanzhoe
Summary: While waiting for the Rites to begin, whether for the first time or the last, you and yours have shared a long, long time together in the Downside.These are just some of the memories you share.(Written after findingThis 100 Word Prompt List. Yes, I'm going to gun for all 100).





	1. Dance (Tariq)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anotherfirename](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherfirename/gifts).



> These are by no means in chronological order.

Tariq's lute stands proud against the wall its owner once dozed at, looking at it (or indeed, any of the many personal trinkets that clutter your now-homely wagon) gives you a general sense of where your companions are and what they're doing. You imagine this sort of thing is part and parcel of being a Reader, since that's effectively what you're doing after all, _reading_ . However... _esoterically_ this act and the others Volfred has taught you stretches the definition.

Still, you continue watching it despite its inanimacy; it's a good place to cast your eyes while you ruminate on upcoming Rites, both Liberation and otherwise. Just like all those other trinkets it gives off the aura of its owner, in Tariq's case: calmness, mystery, and a twinge of sadness. Very familiar feelings to one such as yourself, a secretive scholar cast down for her scholarliness.

How long you sit at your wooden table, book open on your lap, lute silently against the wall, lost in your thoughts is anyone's guess. It's long enough for Tariq to return from his wanderings (never _too_ far from your fellow Nightwings, you've noted) and greet you with his ever-present politeness.You jolt a little from your reverie to turn your gaze to him and incline your head in your own greeting, smiling a little.

"My friend." You only speak in short bursts at the moment, the others have found. The injuries incurred via your punishment left you, already missing an arm, with a voice that now strains after anything over a few words long. Nevertheless, unlike your arm, you know your voice can heal given gentle exercise. Tariq seems to glean your wishes from your unspoken hints, gaze sliding back to his lute and then him again. You swear, if you strain your ears, that he gives the slightest laugh at your eagerness to resume the performance that has become something of a daily ritual for the two of you while everyone else is busying themselves elsewhere.

He takes his place where the lute, now in his hands, had been and tunes it a little before launching into one of the many pieces you have come to think of as the 'themes' of the people and places you've come across so far. This one, you think, invokes the Fate, some of your favourite people you've met.

You bounce a foot in time with the beat, one leg crossed over another, and hum along lowly enough to work your vocal chords without _over_ working them while you turn back to your book.

Perhaps one day, after everyone is free, you'll ask him to _dance_ instead.


	2. Treat (Hedwyn)

You've  _ always _ judged people. Perhaps it's not the best trait for someone to have, but what are we without our flaws? You try to keep this in mind when doing so, but some flaws, you've long since decided, are worse than others. Keeping knowledge out of everyone's grasp, for instance. Disproportionate punishments for minor crimes, another.

Mostly, you judge people on how they treat the people less fortunate than them and dear Scribes, by this metric are there some _catastrophic_ failures here in the Downside. Manley springs to mind immediately and you curl your lip in annoyance even at the thought of him. Your less-than-savoury thoughts are interrupted, however, by a hand on your shoulder.

Hedwyn smiles back at you and removes his hand when you turn your face away from the window to greet him. He seems to fare better with traversing the skies than the seas, and for that you're thankful. If Manley is the worst you've crossed paths with, Hedwyn is easily one of the very best. It would be lying to say you didn't hold him especially in high esteem after your first meeting.  _ A saviour _ , you'd thought, half-mad from dehydration and half-dead from the fall,  _ sent by the Scribes to save me _ . That saviour, in time, turned out to be you, though you're uncomfortable with the reverence.

"Penny for your thoughts, my friend?" And from the look on his face you can imagine the turns yours has taken during your short-lived reminiscing. You hold his gaze a moment before letting a smile tug your lips and turning back to face the wind.

"You saved my life." You start, and plow on before he can say something self-deprecating, "I know I'm going to get yours and the other's back, but mine..."

Silence. The facts of the matter weigh on you both, though you think perhaps more on him after his already broken vow.

"I don't regret being the Reader, Hedwyn." Firm but kind, you might as well be channelling Jodariel when you head him off at the pass of whatever upset he undoubtably was feeling. "I regret the fact that mere  _ literacy _ is our salvation." He frowns, agreeing with your anger, you think.

"Is it..." The two of you swap points of interest while he finds his words. Him watching the skies and now you, he. "Is it  _ difficult _ to learn?"

Where a small smile tugged your lip earlier, a full-blown grin comes over you now. The sight is, to him, a little breathtaking and a lot unexpected. Hedwyn pauses, taken aback by the sheer glee in your expression at his underlying question. You needn't be a Reader to know what he was getting at and you seem to  _ glow _ in your joy.

"Not with a patient teacher." 

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter will be about 450 - 500 words, not all of them will be _overtly_ shippy, I'm getting everyone out from the Downside in this, and I hope you enjoy.
> 
> you can find me on tumblr over [ Here](http://ofrawrites.tumblr.com/). i take requests and post smaller bits i don't feel warrant AO3 yet.


End file.
